Training
Your Church's Configuration.
In a situation like this, you may have been running tracks, worship videos, or even split tracks. We know of some churches using IWL that we’re just putting on CD’s and having everyone sing along. It’s hard when the worship leader get on and says “Thank You and Goodnight Cleveland!” and you’re at a church in Chicago and it’s 9:30 in the morning. All of this can be solved through IWL because you can get inside the tracks and turn each one on or off. You can direct the tracks in the moment too—so you can think of your worship leader as a live DJ and their directing the tracks like they would a band.
Preferred Setup—Our preferred setup is for those who want to know everything they could possibly need.
- Mac or PC Computer—We recommend filling your computer with as much RAM s you can—and at least 1GB. If you have a PC you need to add a Firewire 400 6pin PCI card so you can connect to your Presonus Firebox and external hard drive.
- On-The-Go 100 GB Hard Drive- Our downloadable files are only 30-80 MB on average so you may be able to run sessions off your computer’s hard drive to start. BUT, the best way to run audio is the audio files on an external hard drive and the software on your computers internal hard drive. The On-The-Go drives are portable, bus powered, and we really like them.
- Presonus Firebox—You can run out of the 1/8th in jack on your computer to your sound system, but it’s not the best possible connection. You can connect to an Audio Interface like the Presonus Firebox and assign your tracks through the Presonus Firebox to you sound person.
- Midi Units—You can use the Roland FC-300 as a foot pedal that can cue the different sections of your songs from a pedal on the floor. This way you can direct the tracks without looking like you're checking email.
“Only the Basics” Setup- This is our “bare bones” recommendation of what you can’t live without and what you need to know if you don’t get the items in the Preferred Setup above.
- Mac or PC Computer—IF you don’t add a PCI card for Firewire to your Windows computer you can try USB. Some audio engineers will only recommend Firewire at 7200 RPM speed and USB 2 may work for you as well. If you notice skipping, you need to upgrade to a faster connection.
- Your own hard drive or your internal drive—Again, the faster the better. We recommend 7200 RMP drives. Unless you specified, your internal drive is most likely 5400 and you could experience skipping with too many tracks and too little RAM.
- Your computer’s 1/8 inch jack—This will work fine as long as you only need a left and right track and you never bump the cord and send loud scratchy sound throughout your service. You could even pan the click left and the tracks right if you have a mono system and you wanted to hear the click tracks in your in-ears.
- Midi Units—For the church with no band an a worship leader directing these tracks, I think a foot pedal is a must have if you’re going to do a lot of directing the tracks live. You can preset markers in the song for the any command so that you can do it with your feet. For example, you can set a marker to play, stop, song 1, song 2, a vamp on the bridge you want to repeat, Song 3, a vamp, and song 4, then the vamp for the prayer at the end of service. You step on these cues and you’re cuing the session in the software from your foot pedal on the front of stage and directing the worship live. Roland FC-300 is a great option for a midi pedal.
In a situation like this, you can play along with the tracks and mute the acoustic or electric guitar and fit right in with the mix. We strongly recommend using in-ear monitors and putting the click track in your mix because you’ll need it to count you in on every song. Plus it’s easier for your timing to get a little lost in the track if you don’t have a click keeping you in time. Now, you can just pump the tracks in a monitor and that will work fine. But the best option is always with a click and in-ears.
Preferred Setup—Our preferred setup is for those who want to know everything they could possibly need.
- Mac or PC Computer—We recommend filling your computer with as much RAM s you can—and at least 1GB. If you have a PC you need to add a Firewire 400 6pin PCI card so you can connect to your Presonus Firebox and external hard drive.
- On-The-Go 100 GB Hard Drive- Our downloadable files are only 30-80 MB on average so you may be able to run sessions off your computer’s hard drive to start. BUT, the best way to run audio is the audio files on an external hard drive and the software on your computers internal hard drive. The On-The-Go drives are portable, bus powered, and we really like them.
- Presonus Firebox—This is very important because it gives you more options than just a left and right coming out of your computer. The Presonus Firebox gives you 8 analog ¼ inch outputs so you could send 8 to your sound person and he/she can have more control over the mix. For example, you can mute the guitar, send the drums stereo down 1 & 2, the bass down 3, the rest of the tracks down 4 & 5 and the click down number 6. This way the sound person has more control over the bass and drums, which are the foundation of your sound, and the click is separated to your worship leaders in-ear mix and the rest of the sounds are on 4 & 5.
- Midi Units—You can use the Roland FC-300 as a foot pedals that can cue the different sections of your songs from a pedal on the floor. This way you can direct the tracks without looking like your checking email.
““Only the Basics” Setup- This is our “bare bones” recommendation of what you can’t live without and what you need to know if you don’t get the items in the Preferred Setup above.
- Mac or PC Computer—We recommend filling your computer with as much RAM s you can—and at least 1GB. If you have a PC you need to add a Firewire 400 6pin PCI card so you can connect to your Presonus Firebox and external hard drive.
- Your own hard drive or your internal drive—Again, the faster the better. We recommend 7200 RMP drives. Unless you specified, your internal drive is most likely 5400 and you could experience skipping with too many tracks and too little RAM.
- Presonus Firebox—This is very important because it gives you more options than just a left and right coming out of your computer. The Presonus Firebox gives you 8 analog ¼ inch outputs so you could send 8 to your sound person and he/she can have more control over the mix. For example, you can mute the guitar, send the drums stereo down 1 & 2, the bass down 3, the rest of the tracks down 4 & 5 and the click down number 6. This way the sound person has more control over the bass and drums, which are the foundation of your sound, and the click is separated to your worship leaders in-ear mix and the rest of the sounds are on 4 & 5.
- No Midi Unit—You can try running without a midi unit if you’re not doing a lot of cues for songs. You can build a session where you press play and go and all the songs flow right into each other. But you have to use your computer keyboard and this limits your flexibility.
In a situation like this, you can play along with the tracks and mute the keys and fit right in with the mix. We strongly recommend using in-ear monitors and putting the click track in your mix because you’ll need it to count you in on every song. Plus it’s easier for your timing to get a little lost in the track if you don’t have a click keeping you in time. Now, you can just pump the tracks in a floor monitor and that will work fine. But the best option is always with a click and in-ears.
Preferred Setup—Our preferred setup is for those who want to know everything they could possibly need.
- Mac or PC Computer—We recommend filling your computer with as much RAM s you can—and at least 1GB. If you have a PC you need to add a Firewire 400 6pin PCI card so you can connect to your Presonus Firebox and external hard drive.
- On-The-Go 100 GB Hard Drive- Our downloadable files are only 30-80 MB on average so you may be able to run sessions off your computer’s hard drive to start. BUT, the best way to run audio is the audio files on an external hard drive and the software on your computers internal hard drive. The On-The-Go drives are portable, bus powered, and we really like them.
- Presonus Firebox—This is very important because it gives you more options than just a left and right coming out of your computer. The Presonus Firebox gives you 8 analog ¼ inch outputs so you could send 8 to your sound person and he/she can have more control over the mix. For example, you can mute the keys part you’re playing, send the drums stereo down 1 & 2, the bass down 3, the rest of the tracks down 4 & 5 and the click down number 6. This way the sound person has more control over the bass and drums, which are the foundation of your sound, and the click is separated to your worship leaders in-ear mix and the rest of the sounds are on 4 & 5.
- Midi Units—You can use the Axiom 25 or any plethora of different midi units that can be used to trigger the tracks and give you external volume knobs that are easily accessible.
“Only the Basics” Setup- This is our “bare bones” recommendation of what you can’t live without and what you need to know if you don’t get the items in the Preferred Setup above.
- Mac or PC Computer—We recommend filling your computer with as much RAM s you can—and at least 1GB. If you have a PC you need to add a Firewire 400 6pin PCI card so you can connect to your Presonus Firebox and external hard drive.
- Your own hard drive or your internal drive—Again, the faster the better. We recommend 7200 RMP drives. Unless you specified, your internal drive is most likely 5400 and you could experience skipping with too many tracks and too little RAM.
- Presonus Firebox—This is very important because it gives you more options than just a left and right coming out of your computer. The Presonus Firebox gives you 8 analog ¼ inch outputs so you could send 8 to your sound person and he/she can have more control over the mix. For example, you can mute the guitar, send the drums stereo down 1 & 2, the bass down 3, the rest of the tracks down 4 & 5 and the click down number 6. This way the sound person has more control over the bass and drums, which are the foundation of your sound, and the click is separated to your worship leaders in-ear mix and the rest of the sounds are on 4 & 5.
- No Midi Unit—You can put the computer next to the keys or even on the top tier of a two-tier keyboard stand. If you do this you may want to stabilize the laptop with some black felt covered plywood underneath, but having the laptop right above your keys is nice and you can use the computer keyboard for triggering your markers.
In this situation, we recommend that you have one of your musicians function as an “MD” or Music Director and this person would most likely run the tracks. If you have an Aviom system or in-ear system and if it’s not crucial for that person to sing, turn the MD mic off in the house and put it in the band members ears. Now the MD can talk them through the count-in, what sections are coming next, and you’ll find it makes the transitions really smooth and tightens the band overall. The MD will need to turn off all the instruments that you have live on stage, but you can leave in counterpoint guitar parts and things like strings, pads, horns, B3, and melodic parts you may not have live. Once you mute those parts and turn up the remaining mix, it should fit together really well.
Preferred Setup—Our preferred setup is for those who want to know everything they could possibly need.
- Mac or PC Computer—We recommend filling your computer with as much RAM s you can—and at least 1GB. If you have a PC you need to add a Firewire 400 6pin PCI card so you can connect to your Presonus Firebox and external hard drive.
- On-The-Go 100 GB Hard Drive- Our downloadable files are only 30-80 MB on average so you may be able to run sessions off your computer’s hard drive to start. BUT, the best way to run audio is the audio files on an external hard drive and the software on your computers internal hard drive. The On-The-Go drives are portable, bus powered, and we really like them.
- Presonus Firebox—This is very important because it gives you more options than just a left and right coming out of your computer. The Presonus Firebox gives you 8 analog ¼ inch outputs so you could send 8 to your sound person and he/she can have more control over the mix. For a simple set-up with a full band, send all the tracks down 1 & 2 for a stereo mix (make sure sound person pans hard left and hard right) and the click down number 3. Give everyone the click if possible, but at the very least, give the click to the drummer and the MD.
- Midi Units—Depending on the instrument, you can reference the keys and guitar recommendations above. There are lots of midi units for every player or you may prefer to use the computer keyboard.
“Only the Basics” Setup- This is our “bare bones” recommendation of what you can’t live without and what you need to know if you don’t get the items in the Preferred Setup above.
- Mac or PC Computer—We recommend filling your computer with as much RAM s you can—and at least 1GB. If you have a PC you need to add a Firewire 400 6pin PCI card so you can connect to your Presonus Firebox and external hard drive.
- Your own hard drive or your internal drive—Again, the faster the better. We recommend 7200 RMP drives. Unless you specified, your internal drive is most likely 5400 and you could experience skipping with too many tracks and too little RAM.
- Presonus Firebox—This is very important because it gives you more options than just a left and right coming out of your computer. The Presonus Firebox gives you 8 analog ¼ inch outputs so you could send 8 to your sound person and he/she can have more control over the mix. For a simple set-up with a full band, send all the tracks down 1 & 2 for a stereo mix (make sure sound person pans hard left and hard right) and the click down number 3. Give everyone the click if possible, but at the very least, give the click to the drummer and the MD.
- No Midi Unit—You can use the computer keyboard if you prefer.
